WARRIORS’ love affair with floodlit rugby may intensify as the Sixways powers-that-be consider switching more home Aviva Premiership fixtures to Friday nights.

Six of Worcester’s 11 home league games this term have been played under lights on Fridays, but the board are now looking to further increase that number if possible.

Since they have been a Premiership club, Warriors have won 20 out of the 30 league games at Sixways on Friday nights, including five out of six this campaign.

When you take that into consideration alongside bumper attendances — around 700 more fans attend on Fridays compared to Saturdays — and increased bar and hospitality takings, the move is hard to argue against.

Worcester is renowned throughout the Premiership as a tough place to visit on Friday nights in front of a vociferous home crowd and the club are keen to tap into that as they look to make strides up the division.

Warriors managing director Charlie Little said: “We have done a lot of analysis and it is certainly something we as a board have looked at and are continuing to look at.

“From a playing point of view, we have won five out of six on Friday nights this season and last season it was four out of five, which is an 82 per cent win-ratio on Fridays since we returned to the Premiership.

“We have to look at it across the whole business, though, and when you win 82 per cent of your home games, that is not in line with a club being in the bottom four, so that stands out.

“From a corporate point of view, Friday games are successful, while it also works for our business clients and local sponsors, who like to entertain customers by bringing them to Sixways at the end of the working week.”

Little added: “We have had more people coming to the games on Friday nights compared to Saturdays this season, but we do also recognise there is a place for a Saturday afternoon kick-off. We are a young club and we want to encourage children and a new audience to Sixways.

“Not all Premiership games will be on Friday nights and we will still play Amlin Challenge Cup and LV= Cup matches on Saturday or Sunday afternoons.

“We have to wait until the fixtures are released before we can confirm and finalise the structure — for example if we are drawn at home on the final weekend of the season, that would likely be a Saturday kick-off in line with the rest of the league, while we won’t have any home league games on a Friday night in December either as that would clash with the numerous Christmas parties we host at Sixways.”

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